Changing Boot Settings in the BIOS
One day, the worst may happen, and your computer will not boot into Windows. You may get an error like "No operating system found". That's bad. In order to fix this, you will need to be able to boot to a CD, meaning that you can start the computer with a bootable CD in the drive, and whatever program that is on that CD (Windows setup, partitioning software, etc) will run first. If your computer is set to boot to a CD first, it will do so, and you don't need to change any settings.
We will look at which device the computer will boot to, and in which order. What we're doing is simply telling the computer where to look, and in which order, for an operating system to run. So if we have the CD as the first choice, the computer will look for a CD first. If there's nothing there to boot to, it will move on to the next item on the list.
BIOS (Basic Input/Output System) is the lowest-level, most basic operating system on your computer, in addition to Windows. The BIOS is located on the motherboard of your computer, and runs the most basic items governing your hardware. At startup, the BIOS runs a self-test program that tests the basic functions of your hardware. The BIOS then configures those components so Windows knows what to do with them, and after that, will allow Windows to boot, starting with the devices (CD, Hard Drive, etc) that are set in the BIOS. That will probably be your most common use of the BIOS. You can also adjust settings in the BIOS that can affect the performance of your computer, like speed of the processor, and fan speeds. These settings, however, are advanced, and if you want to do such things, you probably don't need this basic overview. For our purposes in this article, we'll look at how to change the order of boot devices, so you can, say, boot from a CD.
Entering BIOS
You can enter the BIOS by pressing a key, or combination of keys, right at the beginning of startup. Usually when you see the manufacturer's logo, that's when you need to be pressing the key that gets you into the BIOS setup. The "magic key" varies from manufacturer to manufacturer, so you will have to do some detective work. Most of the time, if you look quickly, you may see "Press DEL to enter setup...", or something to that effect, when the manufacturer's screen comes up. If not, you'll have to look at your manual, or Google the specific brand and model of your computer to find out what key to use. The most common keys are DEL, F1, F2, F10, or ESC.
Once you know what key gets you into BIOS, you have to act quickly. Sometimes your chance has passed once the manufacturer's logo disappears, and you should allow Windows to start completely, then restart and try it again.
Navigating BIOS
Now that you've successfully entered the BIOS setup, you can navigate through the various items. But remember that this is at the most basic level of operation of your hardware, so you can only navigate using your keyboard. Below are typical screens you may see:
Somewhere on the sreen, you will see instructions for use of the keyboard to get around. You may be able to use the arrow keys to move up, down, left and right, and then you select an item by possibly hitting Enter, or using the spacebar.
I'm not purposefully trying to be vague; this is something that, again, varies from BIOS to BIOS.
Changing Settings
Now we're ready to change the boot setting in the BIOS. Again, the exact navigation and wording will vary, so use your imagination.
Look for a tab, or the word Boot as a heading. You may also have an option called Advanced BIOS Features. Select that location and enter. There should be an option for Boot Sequence, or you may see options for First Boot Device, Second Boot Device, and so on. You should see a list of hardware items like Floppy, Hard Drive, CD-ROM, etc. You may see the model numbers of your hardware, but a CD drive will usually have CD or CDR in the model number. See the images below for examples.
Select the first item. This is the item that boots first. Use the directions on the screen for changing that item to your CD drive. When you are finished, make sure your hard drive is one of the items on the list; otherwise, you will not be able to boot into Windows. I usually recommend setting the CD drive first, then the hard drive. After that, things are usually irrelevant. Floppies, which used to be the first boot drive, have all but gone away.
Once you are happy with your changes, you will need to save your settings. Usually, you will see somewhere on the screen that you can press F10 to Save and Close. Or you can back out using ESC until you are asked to save. You will press Y (or N), or use the arrow keys to select Y (or N), then hit Enter. Note that if you press N to not save, any changes you made will NOT take effect.
Your computer will restart, and hopefully it will access the CD drive first.